I Can Hear the Saint’s Inner Thoughts

26 – Continent’s Strongest vs. Holy Kingdom’s Worst (2)

Lich, slowly moving its body, was tilting its head, staring right at me.

I don’t know how it could see with its eye sockets gaping open into darkness – but I felt a gaze.

“Intriguing. To block my word of death. It’s been centuries since I’ve seen a mage like you.”

How it could even form words with a tongue-less mouth, Lich was clearly speaking in a grating, metallic voice.

“…Huh, a dead dark mage can even talk.”

I let out a scoff, completely dumbfounded, at Lich. After all, there was only one explanation for this kind of creature.

A living human corrupted, abandoning body and mind, turning into a fiend.

“It seems the younger generation lacks manners these days. To not recognize a senior who has lived for so long.”

“A creature mimicking the mind and thoughts of its past life, who are you calling a senior?”

Lich was putting on an air of sophistication, but I knew it was all a sham and glared at it.

After all, necromancy isn’t about truly resurrecting the dead, it’s about creating a fake that mimics them.

‘If it wasn’t for my master, I might have tried to bring my parents back like this.’

Watching Lich move like that, a bitter taste filled my mouth.

I’d spent about a year myself, researching the magic of bringing back the dead.

Back then, I couldn’t accept that my parents were gone, so I did a lot of stupid things.

“Courage and arrogance are just a hair’s breadth apart….”

“Bullshit, if you don’t even have that kind of stubbornness, who’s going to be a mage? Ah, is that why you ran away to necromancy, scared of death?”

I kept provoking Lich as much as I could, waiting for it to leave an opening. I was mimicking the tone Victoria often used with me.

‘Guess it’s helpful sometimes, Victoria.’

I smiled inwardly. Living with Victoria, I’d learned which buttons to push to make people angry, and which ones to offend them.

Before I understood how her mind worked, I thought Victoria hated me, and that was the reason why.

“Hmm…”

A hint of bewilderment flashed across Lich’s expression as it made a low hum. It was just a skull, devoid of muscle and flesh, but it was clear that it was spacing out, thinking about what to say.

“Hahaha! Having a chat is rather enjoyable, isn’t it. This forbidden library doesn’t get many visitors, it’s quite depressing. Well, it’s the perfect place for secretly combining magic with divine power, though…”

Lich was laughing loudly, the jawbone clattering. Dust was falling off of its mouth, from being still for so long.

Judging by its appearance, it must have been here for a long time, sucking up divine power and other people’s magical energy like a parasite.

“…Dark magic and normal magic aren’t the same, you know? How can you equate a dirty magic that uses another’s life force as a medium? Do you even have a conscience?”

Lich’s words made the vein in my temple throb.

Unlike magic that uses mana in the air or in one’s own mana core, dark magic uses another person’s life force as a medium to cast spells.

That’s why the mages of the Dark Tower work out, strengthening their bodies, and making a mana oath that they will only use their own life force.

Black mages who haven’t received formal approval from the magic tower often fall into this kind of dead-end path.

“A great work requires sacrifice. Isn’t it natural for minor noises to occur during such a process?”

The lich waved his hand dismissively, as if it were nothing. Just how much life force he’d absorbed was apparent; the surging energy was visible even to the untrained eye.

“…You crazy b*stard, with that golden robe you must be a mage from the gold tower, so how did you stoop to black magic?”

Seeing the lich, his golden robe and staff gleaming brilliantly, I could infer his origins.

That was a robe only given to mages of the gold tower. It was similar to what I currently wore, each tower differentiated by color and pattern.

“There were limits to exploring the truth within a finite lifespan. If you were to watch your own body weaken and your face age, your thinking would change too.”

“…Anyone can spout that bullshit.”

“Do you think it’s sophistry? Don’t you understand the grief of burying someone you love with your own hands?”

“Of course, I don’t. I haven’t loved to that extent yet.”

I clenched my hands into fists, grinding my teeth.

For a moment, Victoria flashed through my mind. The saintess, living with a terminal illness, trying her best to appear bright.

Wanting to experience love as her last act, she’d proposed a contract relationship to me, it was similar.

“It’s a shame that you don’t know, it’s always too late when you feel powerless in the flow of time.”

The lich, clicking his teeth, slowly stepped forward as he spoke, as if regretting something.

“My name is Leozaak. I am a mage connected to the abyss, a supreme being who has mastered all things.”

“So, in the end, you’re just a golden-glowing skeleton, aren’t you?”

I was dumbfounded watching the lich even introduce himself. Ultimately, the color of the magic he had accumulated in life was still enveloping his body.

Abyss this, supreme being that, he couldn’t escape his past in the gold tower.

“Lord Leozaak! I have brought the impious ones who threaten you! Please, vanquish these people and help me!!”

At that moment, Pope Forcus, who had been slyly watching me, quickly ran to Leozaak’s side and even bowed his head, begging for help in a humiliating manner.

“Oh, so I helped you poison the previous pope and put you in the position of pope… Was it not you who betrayed my expectations?”

“…!!!”

*Crunch.*

Leozaak stared at Forcus for a moment, and then made a gesture as if grabbing and tearing something in the air.

“Keuh, Keeeek… Kherk…”

Forcus’ face quickly twisted in pain. To my eyes, a hand formed of magic was vividly grasping and twisting his heart.

“I thought I’d given you many chances… You didn’t even stop these mere intruders from bothering me.”

“I’m, I’m sorr-… Save me…”

“Can’t do that. We can just elect a new pope, can’t we?”

Crack.

Rich Leozaak absorbed the Pope’s life force entirely before I could even react, and soon, he became a grotesque sight, like a withered, dried-out root.

“……”

A man died right before my eyes. Of course, he was trash who consorted with demons, so I didn’t feel much of anything, but the unpleasant feeling was undeniable.

“Now we can have a proper conversation. So, how about you become the new Pope, since you’ve made it all the way here?”

Leozaak, tilting his head and pointing at me, spoke as if he were intrigued. The way his tone rose at the end revealed his mood.

“…What do you want, that you do such filthy things? Do you even know how many people have suffered because of a piece of trash like you?”

I said, my expression twisted in anger. If he hadn’t put that b*stard in as Pope, Victoria the Saintess and the nuns wouldn’t have suffered like this.

“Mastery over the very limits of magic. For that, I could even join hands with the Demon King; my passion for study is that sincere.”

Then, Leozaak clicked his jaw as if asking if there was a problem. His shoulders shrugged upward.

“So that’s why you’ve made your nest here like a cockroach.”

“I’ve mastered black magic and basic magic, but there’s a limit to the high-level divine magic only clerics can use. You know the three all go hand-in-hand, don’t you?”

“No, that’s definitely not a valid reason.”

I was dumbfounded at his words and tightened the bandages around my fist again.

To be able to say you’d join hands with the Demon King for such a reason, and to do such dirty deeds…

“For me, magic is the study of failure, Leozaak.”

I recited the adage I had heard from my mentor, Charlotte Snowrain of the Azure Tower. It was the saying that had saved me when I had fallen into despair after losing my parents.

“Magic that lights fires was made for those who shivered in the cold, and levitation magic was born for those who longed for the birds in the sky.”

“A mage of the Azure Tower… it’s been a while since I’ve fought an Azure Tower mage; this will be quite a difficult battle.”

Upon hearing my words, Leozaak emitted golden mana from the staff he was holding, preparing to fight. The surging flow of magical power was tightening around me.

“I know the mages of the Azure Tower are crazy b*stards who analyze their opponents, memorizing their habits, breathing, even their eye and foot movements.”

“Thanks for the compliment, Gold Bones.”

As I watched that scene, I conjured an立体 magic circle in my palm. He would be using a combination of divine and black magic.

I was sure of it when I saw the opposing forces gathering at the tip of the staff, forming a murky mixture of black and white.

“…Wait, are you using magic barehanded, without a staff? And a combination of different kinds of magic at that?”

Then, Leozaak, looking dumbfounded at me, slapped his forehead with a ‘thwack,’ letting out a hollow laugh. His jaw clicked loudly as it moved.

“How could a novice like you possibly use a level that it took me hundreds of years to reach…?”

The tip of Leozaak’s staff was slightly trembling now, revealing that he couldn’t hide his agitation. There would have been no such madman as myself in the time he had lived.

In a way, this reaction was natural.

“There are far more skilled people than you in this world, you know.”

I smiled, watching the flustered Leozac.

Without Victoria, I couldn’t use high-level holy magic, but I could exploit the kind that ordinary people, not priests or clergy, used.

“You’re truly a fascinating being! Your name, what is your name! Please, tell me!”

“The harmless mage, Astar Kaisaros. A mage of the hero party gathered to defeat the Demon Lord.”

Leozac, excited by my magic, asked for my name, and I, as if bestowing mercy on the one about to die, readily introduced myself.

“I offer you my respect, Astar Kaisaros. When you die, I’ll make sure to revive your corpse so that you can achieve eternal life!”

What came back was a chilling proposal. If I died to him, my soul would never be able to go to hell and would forever wander the earth.

“…I loathe a life prolonged by a Life Vessel, so I’ll refuse.”

I shook my head, explaining to Leozac the reason I had been stalling with conversation.

A Life Vessel, it was to find the weakness of the Lich who could never die without destroying it first.